my weight update- please celebrate this milestone with me!

Well, I weighed myself last night, and I weighed in at 150lbs. This is huge for me. I am officially down 48 lbs. Yesterday I went clearance shopping at Kohls and bought a cute little denim skort. It is a size 8!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was so elated to try on the 10 it was too big. now for most things I am still a 10 in, but 12's are now behind me. I am astounded at this journey. It was started in January when I saw pictures of me at Christmas, and now to see I weigh less than even before Trevor was born. In fact I weigh less than I did at Suzanne and Wade's first wedding in 1997. I have 20 lbs to go to get to my ideal body weight, and I know I can do it and I know it will stay off as this has been a lifestyle transformation for me. I am so excited.

John has also joined me on my quest for a healthier life. He has lost 36 lbs to date. It is possible to do this with diligence, diet and exercise. I am proof of it!

Trevor experiences Tennis

For his first real time, we went to the park to play tennis. We met our friends and thier family there (Mike and Amy) He loved it! He is so energized about new things and this really sparked an interest with him. He has a great serve when he puts his mind to it. After 2 hours of playing, he cried when it was time to go home. Wanted to share a few pics of him enjoying tennis.

Trevor is now a 2nd grader

Wow, a new school year has started already. Trevor is now in the second grade at Hanna Woods. He has a great new teacher, Mrs Bright, who already seems like she is going to be a wonderful support to him this school year. Immediately she noticed Trevor's football jersey as her husband is from Manchester, England. How neat. Trevor has a great class size of 17. It is hard to believe that in just2 short months, my oldest will be an 8 year old. Where does the time go?

My very handsome boy....

This was taken in Grand Haven, Michigan, where we went for a weekend of fun to help Aunt Sue and Uncle Mike celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary. I am in awe at how old he appears.

fun with the girls at six flags

Abby, who watches the boys for us, came with us to six flags so she could go with Jor and 'lana to the Vanessa Hudgens concert. We had lots of fun, and lots of roller-coaster therapy.

Jordan and Alanna love their ice cream!

Growing up so fast....

I have to say I feel like the luckiest aunt alive to have such beautiful and wonderful nieces. They are so smart, funny, and such a joy to be around. I am blessed. They visited with Diana and we had so much fun shopping and playing. Today was their last day and they each picked out an outfit from their new clothes to wear for pictures. We headed off to the park to take some great new pictures. Seeing these, I am speechless. They are so grown up and so beautiful. I am proud to be their aunt.

Diana and the girls visit!

More pictures to come, but I had to share this one of the girls!!!!

Cute pictures of the duo

We are learning so many new things. This week, we learned how to get past the duct tape on our sleepers to unzip and still strip anyway. Yes, we are so proud. We also learned how to unlock the front door and get outside. We are now tall enough and smart enough to do this. We are also learnign to say new words by the minute. The speech is suddenly flourishing. Seems like we are making up for lost time. The words are music to my ears. One thing that Jodi is very good at is signs from what she learned with working with Harris's speech therapist. Jodi used signs with the boys and they picked them up quickly and would mimick her. So now I am trying to do the baby signs with them. Thank goodness for internet resources.

Visiting with Jodi...

First of all, it was so wonderful to have Jodi here for 3 days. I am so happy she could make it here for a mini vacation. She left Dana and Harris with Brian and escaped for some Jodi time. We had a very nice visit. On Tuesday night she and I hit the mall for a wee bit of shopping. Wednesday we had a nice visit in the historic town of St Charles, which is nestled right on the Missouri river. You can see how flooded it is inthe picture below. The town is so cute and I came away with quite a few neat photos.

Trailhead microbrewery in St Charles. Looks like this was an old mill. I loved the mill wheel on the side of the building.
They also had this fabulous little English store with lots and lots of authentic food and merchandise from England. I was so excited. I went in there and I bought some Cadbury Flakes and Smarties for the kids and great England decals.
Picture of the buildings in the old town.

On Thursday, we drove down to my work so Jodi could see the ozarks and where I work. That night was the most fabulous night. We got dolled up and headed out for a nice dinner and then went to see John Mayerand Colbie Calliat in concert at the Verizon Wireless Ampitheater. It was a terrific concert. Also discovered anew artist I am loving named Brett Dennen,who opened before Colbie. His music is great. If you like folky Van Morrison meets Jack Johnson, you will like him.

I was sad to see Jodi go. We don't get to visit enough. Usually my visits home are a whirlwind and I am lucky to breeze by for an hour.
I am so glad she came for a couple of days.

The duo are OK.

We recovered well from the Friday incidence. Hopefully all will stay good. They dont remember a thing from it and that is good.

The kids left yesterday with Sue. She came to St Louis to get them. She also took Trevor back to Indiana so he could spend the week with Nanny up at Jellystone. He will also get to see Hayden and Simon as well.

My new job is going well. I really really like it and would like to move down there when our lease is up here. There is a college there I am looking into to complete my RN and hopefully wont have a waiting list either. The ozark mountains are so pretty down there. I can't get enough after living in flat Indiana for so long. I just love looking out and seeing trees for ever.

Weight update: I am down 43 lbs now. Now that I have a tan, I am not looking so shabby these days and have worn my swimsuit more this year than I have in the last 8. I may have even turned a head or two. I still have about 20lbs to lose to get where I really want to be. I need to exercise more, but lounging next to the pool is so fulfilling, LOL.

This picture is me this past weekend. A bunch of Moms from my mmessage board came to STLouis to meet up and we had a great time. I was a bit too excited to have a night out with some girlfriends, and I may have had a tad too much, but had a blast, nonetheless.

it

Our first ambulance ride with lights and sirens!

Sorry for the poor quality, but these were taken with my cell phone camera.

Poor swollen Connor after shots and breathing treatments.

John was eating a mix of nuts we bought that was cashews, almonds, and pistachios. Well, they have never had them and wanted to try them. Well they loved them, but the nuts didnt love back. within a half hour or so, their eyes began to swell and lips were swelling and they were both wheezing and coughing and became lethargic. I called the pediatrician to see if I could give a mega dose of benadryl and she said to call 911 immediately. They got here in 3 minutes. Both Connor's eyes were swollen shut, and he took it the hardest. His oxygen saturation was only 69% and his heart rate was 189 before the epinephrine, benadryl shot and steroids. WE took off in the ambulance- me with Logan, and the other paramedic had Connor. John needed to stay with Jake, Trevor and Lauren. (Jake and Trevor theought he fire truck and amulance were cool.) They did pretty well and slept the first hour. Then the steroids kicked in. They were wound up soooo bad. It was crazy!

Logi after shots and breathing treatments

My poor duo

An hour after steroids and they were bouncing off the walls. The ER was entertained by them....I was not.

We are home now and they are whooped on the Benadryl- but are extra snuggly. We now have to carry an Epi pen for each of them where ever we go. YIKES!

Lauren and Jake are staying with us!!!

So Sue and Wade could go and get married in Jamiaca, I brough Lauren and Jake to St Louis for some fun. I have missed them and it has been so wonderful having them here.

Transportation Museum. We got to walk on and touch real big trains!!!

The pool at the apartment complex.







Six flags was a blast. Lauren and Jake got thier pictures with so many characters it was too many to post.
Villans, watch out! They all got superhero capes!

We went to the Science Center today for some hands-on learning. We had lots of fun here. I love the picture of Jake playing with the tornado exhibit. He was fascinated by it.

We are having so much fun with them here. Tomorrow- er, today (I need to get to bed) we are going to a small water park in Farmington, MO with my friend and her 3 children. Thursday we are hoping for the zoo and Friday maybe Manchester pool. They have both been so well-behaved and Jake is loving playing with his big cousin Trevor. They play for hours together and (almost) never argue. Jake is such a sweetie. Lauren is a huge help to both John and I. She helps with the babies and never complains- in fact, she is always taking them off our hands. Tonight Lauren and I had girly fun and painted our finger and toe nails so we are pool-ready tomorrow.

Will post more pictures of the water park tomorrow!